Mothers who have their first child as a teenager are more likely than older mothers to go on welfare, and they spend more years on welfare over their lifetimes.В Thus, they are a special focus of the most recent welfare reform legislation, which imposes strict new requirements on teenage parents.В State and local agencies charged with implementing these requirements may find the lessons from three recent evaluations useful.

The three recent demonstration evaluations -- of the Teenage Parent Demonstration; Ohio's Learning, Earning, and Parenting Program (LEAP); and the New Chance demonstration -- offer important lessons for states and local agencies that are implementing the teenage parent provisions of the new law.В For example, the evaluations suggest the following:

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